Elizabeth Wildsmith, Mindy Scott, Lina Guzman, and El izabeth Cook

October 2014

FAMILY STRUCTURE AND FAMILY FORMATION

AMONG LOW-INCOME HISPANICS IN THE U.S.

http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-48HispanicFamilyStructure.pdf

Low-income Hispanic women are married or cohabit (known as “co-residential unions”) early. Over half of low-income Hispanic women—both the foreign-

born and the U.S.-born—have entered a marriage or cohabiting union by age 20; only three in ten Hispanic men have.

However, more foreign-born low-income Hispanics report currently being married than do any other group.

Marriage rates among U.S.-born low-income Hispanics are more similar to those of whites.

KEY FINDINGS…RELATIONSHIPS

Roughly half of low-income Hispanic women—both foreign-born and U.S.-born—report a birth by age 20. Among men, early childbearing is most common among U.S.-born Hispanic men and black men.

Most births to low-income Hispanics occur in some type of co-residential union. This is particularly true for the foreign-born. Eight in ten births to foreign-born Hispanic women and nine in ten births to foreign-born Hispanic men occur in a marital or cohabiting union.

KEY FINDINGS…CHILDBEARING

Low-income, foreign-born Hispanics are more likely to be married than any other group examined.

Low-income, foreign-born Hispanic men and women are also the least likely to be never married.

Low-income, foreign-born Hispanics are more likely to be married than any other group examined. .

LATINO FAMILY STRENGTHS

Well over half of low-income Hispanic women, both foreign-born and U.S.-born, have formed some sort of co-residential union (marriage or cohabitation) by age 20.

Fewer low-income Hispanic men than women—regardless of nativity—enter a co-residential union prior to age 20.

Roughly two-thirds of low-income Hispanic women, regardless of nativity, have at least one child.

Approximately half of low-income Hispanic women have had a fi rst birth by age 20, regardless of nativity.

However, among the low-income, U.S.-born Hispanic men are twice as likely as the foreign-born to have had a birth by age 20.

Among the low-income, almost nine in ten foreign-born Hispanic men and eight in ten foreign-born Hispanic women were in some sort of co-residential union (married or cohabiting) at the birth of their fi rst child.

Low-income, foreign-born Hispanic men have the lowest levels of multiple-partner fertility.

More than 30 percent of U.S.-born Hispanic men (with two or more children) report having children with more than one woman, compared to one in ten foreign-born Hispanic men.

Low-income Hispanic women—both those born in the U.S. and those born elsewhere—start families early:

There are important diff erences between U.S.- and foreign-born low-income Hispanic families.

Foreign-born Hispanic women are more likely than the U.S.-born to be married at the birth

of their first child and to still be married. US-born Hispanic women

are more likely to have their first birth outside of any union.

Among low-income Hispanic men, the foreign-born are also more likely to be married than the U.S.-born.

The vast majority of low-income Hispanic children, particularly those born to foreign-born parents, are born into two-parent households. This means that fathers are often a presence in the lives of young, low-income Hispanic children, even if parents are not married.